Fans of both IndyCar and NASCAR were left frustrated following the decision to run the IndyCar race at Thermal and the NASCAR Cup race at Homestead at nearly the exact same time. The American open-wheel series aired on FOX while NASCAR was featured on FOX Sports 1, except for a 20-minute period in the middle of the race when the IndyCar broadcast went down due to technical issues. During that time, NASCAR was simulcasted on both channels.
On Monday, we learned that there was a significant drop in viewership between the IndyCar season opener at St. Pete and the second round of the season at Thermal. Despite both races appearing on FOX's primary channel, viewership dropped 50.3% between with 704,000 tuning in for Thermal while over 1.4 million watched St. Pete.
Motorsport.com reached out to FOX Sports to better understand why the programming clash happened and were offered the following explanation from a representative: "When IndyCar is on the West Coast, going head-to-head with NASCAR is unavoidable because we can’t start the IndyCar race at 9 a.m. PT /12 p.m. ET (too early out there) before NASCAR (at 3 p.m. ET). We cannot air IndyCar on Sunday nights in the spring because of FOX entertainment programs airing in primetime."
There will also be some crossover between the next IndyCar race at Long Beach (also on the West Coast) and NASCAR at Bristol as well. While not directly head-to-head, Long Beach will start about 90 minutes after Bristol, which usually runs for about three hours. As for the remaining races where FOX broadcasts both NASCAR and IndyCar, there will be no other direct conflicts, at least for 2025.
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- The Motorsport.com Team
